Halloween lost on an Eastern Culture

I was so stoked to teach this week, 6 easy lessons on Halloween! Just what I needed for the week I had to teach 6 make up classes for the ones I’m missing next week to go to Nanjing & Shanghai. To prepare for class I wiki-ed Halloween (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween). I didn’t have a firm handle on the

I think the world is coming to an end!

they’re letting me teach an English class to children! Wendy came to me a few weeks ago with a proposition, the English teachers on campus proposed an Oral English class for their children twice week if I wanted an extra job. Okay for those of you who know me, know my initial reaction, an absolute

A Daily Goal of Chinese

I’m hoping by posting this goal I will have more accountability with achieving it. Drum roll please . . . Study Mandarin for 60min each weekday. Yes I get the weekends off because lets face it if I don’t set a realistic goal I’m never going to reach it. Besides then if I do study

Honeymoon Over…Homesickness has hit.

Great, I’m choking up just writing. I hate crying!!! I’d better make this quick I have to run to make up a class anyway. Honeymoon over. I’m tired, still not altogether feeling well, frustrated and lonely. It was bound to hit eventually. I think I did pretty well myself. It has been over a month.

I’m just not feeling well…it is not the flu!!

So originally when I started writing this post I thought the title was accurate come to find out it just might not be true. I went to my trusty medical advisor who tore my hopes apart by explaining that a certain illness going around is not necessarily accompanied by nausea and diarrhea but is a

Not my smartest move…

May I just begin by saying how grateful I am that by the time my mother reads  this post I’ll be tucked into bed sound a sleep, or at least the eye shade will be on the the ear plugs in. And just to be fair I apologize but I will be up and gone in the

Z-Visa Medical Exam – Any words of Encouragement

I knew getting into this that upon arrival I would have to do two things, a medical exam (which if they complete the entire form found on the Visa website is a full workout) and apply for permanent residency. At the time of this discovery it was still a few months off no sweat. But

Chinese Food, well uhmmm

  Teacher’s Dinning Hall I have two options for dinning, cook my own ( yeah right ) or the school’s Catina. The only real draw back to this second option is the fact that the food is, well, Chinese.  I was never a huge fan back in the States and assured my self the Americanization

Cleaning Day – I made White Glove Proud!

  This is really for my Mother so feel free to skip. I would just like to note that this apartment would now pass Tammy’s Mother-in-law’s White Glove* with flying colors! Wait except for the window sills. I never could manage to pass the window sills. For those of you who have been fortunate enough

37* is that normal?

  With the threat of swine flu China has taken some extra precautions with those of us who have come from infected countries. Anyone entering China from a country with known cases of Swine Flu must record and report their temperature 2x a day for the first 7days of arrival. The night I arrived James